Wild Earth: A new meaning to First Person Shooter? Company: Super X Studios Every year the Independent Games Festival selects a list of independently produced games and launches the developers into a state of euphoria. For a select few, being honored by an IGF Finalist title can launch the careers of developers, and pushes the groups into the mainstream development world. Super X Studios was awarded with this year's prize thanks to a solid groundwork of independent development, and one killer title that showcase the group's innovation, intelligence and creativity. Wild Earth was awarded the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, as well as touting awards for Innovation in Game Design and Innovation in Visual Art. Wild Earth, a three-dimensional first person title, brings new meaning to the term 'first person shooter'. As a photographer for the Wild Earth Newspaper, you are responsible for taking photographs of animals in the grazing grounds of the African Serengeti. Led by your narrator, a writer for Wild Earth, you will voyage alongside exotic animals such as the Zebra and African Elephant. Presently, Wild Earth is still being developed, and the finished product will likely be a masterpiece compared to what is currently implemented. Nevertheless,Wild Earth shows promise through a realistic environment and a truly innovative concept. The environment in Wild Earth ranges from wavy fields of grass to steadily flowing watering holes. Right now, some animals behave oddly, but the idea is reachable. Your narrator instructs you to take a certain picture. This picture may require objectives such as zebras grazing with its head down, or a puma running in pursuit of a prey. Is Wild Earth realistic? Not really. In the present version, your character almost seems completely invisible to the animals in the savanna. You can practically run directly into enormous animals and never fear for your safety. In fact, your presence is more than invisible but also invincible. The texture and sturdiness of the ground does not affect your movement or standings. In fact it is perfectly acceptable to walk down to the bottom of a lake with no danger involved. The aspects of the game seem a little too separated right now. Wild Earth has a dangerous feeling to its concept. The idea of traveling to the Serengeti brings a great deal of adrenaline to anyone planning an outing. Without that idea of danger in the game, Wild Earth is limited to taking photographs of random imagery with no limitations in time or technique. Getting around in Wild Earth could not be easier. The control setup garners through the simple basic setup found in most first person shooter games. Basically, the camera is your weapon, and it is up to you to make the right shots and get through the game's list of required photographs. As you shoot, the narrator will let you know how your progress is going, and upon completion of a mission, all of your pictures will be displayed in a printable newspaper. Wild Earth makes everyone a professional cameraperson. Given the state of video games today, it is inspiring to see innovation still exists in the minds of video game developers. Super X Studios continues to develop Wild Earth in anticipation of its release, and surely they will work out the little problems and integrate the environment with the game's goals. The excitement of new ideas will definitely prepare Super X Studios for any of its productions after Wild Earth is completed. We look forward to the completion of Wild Earth, and hope to see more exiting and original titles from the development team in the future. -==Boy, GameVortex Communications AKA Kyle Prestenback Related Links: Super X Studios Official Site